'Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition' guide to The End and the Ender Dragon

Title Update 9 for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition was released Thursday and brought The End and the Ender Dragon along with it. The first thing you may ask is how do I get to The End and what happens once I get there? We've put this guide together to help you out.

Getting to The End

Making your way to The End is not all that different from any epic quest. You've got to hunt down monsters, collect items, journey to new places, hunt more monsters, collect more items and then find a mysterious portal.

Hunt and down and kill Enderman to collect 12 Ender Pearls. You'll find the Endermen in the Overworld late at night. They are rare enemies but are pretty unmistakable as they are tall, slender and black. Also, they like to steal blocks.
Construct a Nether Portal by collecting 14 Nether Bricks and combining them into a frame. Set the frame on fire with lava or flint and steel and then enter the portal to the Nether plane.
Find Blaze Fortresses in the Nether and hunt down and kill enough Blazes to collect at least 6 Blaze Rods.
Return to the Overworld and craft the 6 Blaze Rods to convert them into 12 Blaze Powders.
Combine the 12 Blaze Powders and 12 Ender Pearls together to create 12 Eyes of Ender.
Now it is time to find a Stronghold that contain an Ender Portal. To do so, throw an Eye of Ender into the air and follow it as it leads you to the Stronghold. There is a risk that you may lose one or more Eyes of Ender doing this so it may be a good idea to craft more than 12.
Once you get to the Stronghold and find the Ender Portal, place the 12 Eyes of Ender into each of the blocks of the Ender Portal frame. Congratulations! You've just activated the Ender Portal. Now all you need to do is hop through to go to The End and meet the Ender Dragon.

Facing the Ender Dragon

Now that you've made it to The End it is time to face the toughest mob in Minecaft, the Ender Dragon. It has 200 health points and an attack strength of 10. You'll want to make sure you are well equipped before heading into The End though. Equip your character with at least iron armor, a Diamond sword, a bow and a few stacks of arrows. Additionally, you'll want to sleep in a bed near the Ender Portal before entering The End in case you die.

A health bar for the Ender Dragon will appear on your screen upon entering The End.
The Ender Dragon's health is constantly recharged by Ender Crystals sitting atop Obsidian columns. You'll need to destroy these first if you plan on taking out the Ender Dragon.
4J Studios has added a twist to destroying the Ender Crystals by surrounding them with cages. However, they can still be destroyed using arrows or snowballs with good aim. Meleeing will work as well but is not the best strategy as the Ender Crystals explode when destroyed.
Destroying an Ender Crystal while it recharging the Ender Dragon will result in extra damage to the mob. Destroying an Ender Crystal when the dragon is near it is also a good strategy to inflict extra damage.
Using projectiles like arrows is the easiest strategy to defeat the Ender Dragon once all the Ender Crystals are destroyed. Snowballs can be used as well to stun it. Using melee attacks will prove more difficult because the dragon will retreat when approach. However, melee attacks will do more damage. So, if you want to go the melee route, wait for the Ender Dragon to charge, then sidestep and attack.
Note that The End is essentially a floating island and the Ender Dragon will try to knock you off. You can get around this by digging a fox hole.
Being stationary can have its drawbacks in the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft though as 4J Studios as 4J Studios gave the Ender Dragon the ability to spit Ender Acid. It is purple and its damage is currently unknown.
The End is the home of Endermen so you may have to avoid them as well. If you don't want to fight them, don't look at them above the waist. Otherwise, attack their legs.

Once the Ender Dragon is defeated, it will drop 20,000 experience, a dragon egg and an exit portal. This will "end" the game of Minecraft as the credits roll but you can still return to the Overworld to continue your building and adventures.